We all love story, we'll love story forever.  It's the oldest and most powerful form of communication in every culture.  Forget the kids for a moment, wanna get adult attention?  Start with "Let me tell you a story..."  Try it.

Let me tell you a story.

I'm living away far from home for the first time.  My days and my dreams are full of experimentation, full of raw.  So, one night, I find a deep sleep, and I dream.

I find myself up in a tree.  The leaves are gone, the limbs are bare, but I'm not cold. The tree is tall and small -  at the same time.  I'm not alone.  A bird sits next to me. We look down through the branches at the ground below.

We've been focused on Bush's SOTU address and the now infamous 16 words. There's more, so much more. An entire history of lies. Scooter's lies are indeed Bush league.

In a Sept. 8, 2002, "Meet the Press" appearance, just weeks before the congressional vote on authorizing President Bush to go to war, Dick Cheney said: "We've seen in connection with the hijackers, of course, Mohammed Atta, who was the lead hijacker, did apparently travel to Prague on a number of occasions. And on at least one occasion, we have reporting that places him in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official a few months before the attack on the World Trade Center."

Except it wasn't true, and Big Dick new it wasn't true.

On March 8, 2003, President Bush spoke to the American people in a radio address, saying, "Saddam Hussein has a long history of reckless aggression and terrible crimes. He possesses weapons of terror. He provides funding and training and safe haven to terrorists who would willingly deliver weapons of mass destruction against America and other peace-loving countries.

The attacks of September the 11, 2001 showed what the enemies of America did with four airplanes. We will not wait to see what terrorists or terror states could do with weapons of mass destruction. We are determined to confront threats wherever they arise. And, as a last resort, we must be willing to use military force. We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq. But if Saddam Hussein does not disarm peacefully, he will be disarmed by force."

On Monday, March 17, President Bush spoke in a televised address to the nation. He told us, "The danger is clear: Using chemical, biological or, one day, nuclear weapons obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country or any other."

I'm sure you've heard the same refrain from a chorus of politicians - "Now is not the time for blame." I could care less about blame, blame is a children's game, it's high time for some adult accountability.  They've had four years to get it right, four long years and billions of dollars to prevent exactly this - massive loss of life because our government failed us.  And once again, when our government fails us, our so-called leaders dodge their primary responsibility, offering the lame and tiresome "nobody knew..." excuse.

Bullshit. They justify their use and abuse of our military telling us, "We're capable of handling more than one mission at a time." Then damn it, they're capable of handling the mission of disaster and the mission of accountability at the same time. After four years, we're still asked patience?  No American should be asked to wait, to sit patiently by while our government sacrifices even one more life.

I want accountability and I want it NOW.

Halliburton was given a license to steal and kill. Cheney's no bid, no accounting, no rules war profiteers have taken war profiteering to a whole other realm, making our foreign policy in Iraq not security, or democracy, but corruption. Twenty eight Democratic U.S. Senators are calling for a formal Department of Defense investigation into what they described as "alarming" reports of fraudulent, wasteful and abusive practices by Halliburton in providing food to U.S. troops in Iraq.

Not only has Halliburton and their subsidiary KBR defrauded the American taxpayer, they've put our troops at risk and continue to jeopardize the stability of Iraq.  The testimony about KBR revealed just how far this administration is willing to go to put profit above everything else, including national security, democracy and human life.

Mark Benjamin's story "Military Injustice" chronicles one soldier's personal battle with the military he dedicated 16 years of his life to serving. His heartbreaking story shows a web of deceipt and the frightening reality of unchecked power. At a time when our government is espousing the "spread of democracy" and the need for extending the powers of the Patriot Act, Lt. Goodrum's story chilled me to the core.

Iraq vet Jullian Goodrum blasted his superiors for misdeeds that he says cost a soldier his life. His reward: The Army he once loved refused to treat his psychological wounds, then charged him with desertion.

It has been a year and a half since Goodrum, back from Iraq and haunted by suicidal thoughts and flashbacks related to his time there, checked himself into a civilian psychiatric hospital in Knoxville, Tenn., after being turned away from a military hospital. The Army subsequently accused him of desertion, which can mean six years in the military's Fort Leavenworth, Kan., prison. Goodrum fought back, but he had no idea then what he was up against.

On April 1, after he'd been fighting the desertion case for 18 months, the Army found Goodrum innocent of being absent without leave, or AWOL. But the ordeal took a toll. Goodrum's 16-year career in the military is over -- he wants out. "Why would I serve a military that betrayed me?" he asks. He is $40,000 in debt from legal fees, and his relationship with his fiancée has suffered under the stress. The cause of his original hospitalization was post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from his war experiences -- a diagnosis confirmed four times, three times by military doctors. But instead of improving, some of his symptoms have worsened as a result of his protracted legal battle.